The quote that looks like a bargain
It happens in almost every crane purchase. The specifications look similar, the drawings look similar, and one price is far below the rest. The instinct is to ask the other suppliers to match it — or to sign it before someone else does.
Sometimes the cheap quote is genuine: a factory with capacity, a simple configuration, a short span. More often, the difference is not in the margin. It is in what the price actually contains. These are the six places it hides.
1. The duty class quietly dropped
Duty class is the single easiest specification to reduce without changing the brochure. A crane quoted as A3 instead of A5 has smaller motors, lighter reducers, a lower rope safety factor and less frequent permitted starts. It looks the same in a photograph and costs meaningfully less.
If your workshop runs two or three shifts, or the crane lifts every few minutes, an A3 machine will wear out early. The saving at purchase becomes downtime at year two. Duty class explained →
2. The steel got thinner
Girder depth, plate thickness and the number of stiffeners are invisible in a render and hard to see on a finished crane. A lighter bridge reduces the price, the wheel loads and the crane's stiffness at the same time.
Ask for the approximate steel weight of the bridge and compare it across quotes. A 15–20% difference in steel weight for the same capacity, span and duty is not a rounding error — it is a different machine. It also changes what the runway has to carry. Wheel loads and runway design →
3. The hoist is a different product
"10 t hoist" describes a capacity, not a product. A standard CD hoist, an MD two-speed hoist and a European low-headroom hoist with VFD are three different machines with different prices, hook approaches and service lives.
Check the hoist model, the reeving, the hoisting speed, whether VFD is included and what the permitted starts per hour are. If one quote is silent on these, the price is probably based on the cheapest option that fits the capacity line. Electric hoist guide →
4. The scope moved outside the price
This is the most common — and the most expensive — difference. Two quotes for "a 10 t crane" can mean very different things:
- Rails, clips and end stops included or excluded
- Runway beams included or by the building contractor
- Installation, commissioning and load testing included or extra
- Operator training and spare parts included or extra
- Freight, insurance and destination charges included or FOB only
When you add the missing scope back, the cheap quote often lands within a few percent of the others — or above them.
5. The paperwork and spares are missing
A crane without drawings, a load test report, a manual and a spare-parts list is cheaper to quote and more expensive to own. In many countries it also cannot be registered or inspected without those documents.
Ask what arrives with the crane and what happens after the warranty: who supplies the brake linings, wheels, contactors and rope, and at what lead time. A cheap crane with no parts route becomes an expensive crane the first time it stops.
6. The site conditions were assumed
If the enquiry did not state the voltage, the span measurement, the lifting height, the headroom or the environment, each supplier assumed something. The cheapest quote usually assumes the easiest site: 380 V, indoor, standard headroom, no wind, no corrosion.
Those assumptions become variations after the contract. A 415 V supply, a low roof, a coastal yard or a long span can each add cost that was never in the headline price.
How to compare quotes in one page
Put every quote into the same table before comparing totals:
- Capacity, span, lifting height and duty class
- Girder type and approximate steel weight
- Hoist model, reeving, speeds and whether VFD is included
- Control: pendant, remote or cabin
- Scope: rails, runway, installation, commissioning, training
- Documents: drawings, test report, manual, spare-parts list
- Warranty, spare-parts availability and response time
- Incoterm, port and estimated freight
The lowest total on that sheet is the real lowest price. The lowest headline number usually is not.
Five questions to ask before you sign
- What duty class is this crane, and what starts per hour is the hoist rated for?
- What is the approximate steel weight of the bridge?
- Which hoist model and reeving are included, and is VFD standard?
- List everything that is not included in this price.
- What documents and spare parts arrive with the crane?
A supplier who answers these in writing is telling you something about how the rest of the project will go.
Questions buyers ask about crane quotations
Is the cheapest quote always a bad one?
No. A factory with capacity, a simple configuration and a short span can genuinely be cheaper. The point is to compare scope and specification, not just the total. If the cheap quote matches the others line by line, it is a good price.
How much cheaper is suspicious?
There is no fixed number, but a difference of more than 15–20% for the same specification usually means something changed: duty class, steel weight, hoist type or scope. Ask for the line-by-line comparison before you decide.
What is the most common hidden cost?
Scope that was left out: rails, runway beams, installation and commissioning. Buyers often compare the crane only, then discover the installation and civil work double the project cost.
Should I ask the other suppliers to match the lowest price?
Ask them to explain the difference instead. If the cheap quote is missing scope, matching it means matching a different machine. If the difference is real, the other suppliers will tell you why.